Silver Moonbeams
by Catianna
Summary: Trapped with only her thoughts, painful memories claim a young woman, driving her to the brink of insanity.
1. Prologue

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**Prologue**

"Tell me, Moonlight, why my sweetheart has betrayed my loving heart?" she whispered softly up to the dark heavens in a desperate plea,  
the aching hole inside of her looking for an answer that would never come.

She bowed her head, covering her face with grime encrusted hands, no longer caring about what she might look like or what might happen to her.  
A small whimper escaped her tiny mouth before she could stop the sound. She wasn't weak, wouldn't appear to them as weak,  
but she hunched over further, rocking back and forth slightly. Her small frame shook with suppressed sobs of abject misery.

"Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god." She whispered in agony to the shadows, feeling the pain rise up to take her.

She took a few deep breathes to try to calm herself, no wanting to sink back into the black oblivion of depression she'd been living with  
for who knew how long; days, weeks, years? These lucid moments came so rarely. She bit her lip, and threaded her fingers into her hair,  
now as filthy as her hands, trying, trying so hard to stay calm. Breath in, breath out. She counted the stars, counted the cracks in the wall.  
She rocked back and forth, counting anything she could see. Recounting, deep breathing, rocking back and forth.  
Count everything again, breath in, breath out, hugging her knees, rocking. It didn't last long. It never did.

A moment's pause, and the memories stabbed her again in the gut, re-ripping out her heart and soul with a ferociousness that never ceased.  
Falling to the sorry excuse for a floor on her hands and knees, she dry heaved over and over again, her body, like her mind, trying to purge what could not be.  
Tears she didn't know she had left, trailed clean streaks down her dirty cheeks as she gagged and choked.  
When she couldn't do that anymore, she slid over, laying on the cold stone slabs on her side, exhausted. Her fingers unconsciously clenched into her scalp,  
twisting her hair as if to replace the emotional pain with another more physical kind.  
Words cannot describe the absolute pain and utter misery that ate into her, leaving her with an intense, gaping hole in her chest, devouring her entire being.  
She had once more found the depths of her own personal hell.

After an eternity, she crawled her way over to the window once more, and once more covered her face with her hands. Rocking back and forth,  
she desperately whispered through her now cracked and bleeding lips, "Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me,"  
over and over and over again. With agonizing slowness, she sunk back into the black oblivion of depression and mindlessness, all the while whispering her plea.

Soft, silver moonbeams shone down from the barred window high above to illuminate the young woman sitting, rocking in misery, on the filthy cell floor.


	2. Chapter 1

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**Chapter 1**

A tiny, high-pitched giggle burst out from the silent hallway to her left.

"I'm going to get you, sissy!" she exclaimed, and took off racing around the corner.

She paused between two doorways. They were almost directly across the hall from one another and led to two different rooms. If she guessed wrong, the little heathen would run out, and she'd have to corner her again. Choices, choices. Opting for the left-most room, as it was a smidge closer, and thereby the first obvious choice of hiding places, she entered as quietly as she could.

The room was the standard guest room. It had a bed, chest at the foot for clothing, a writing desk with chair next to the window, a small table by the bedside, and another chair by the fireplace on the opposite side of the room from the bed. There was also a locked door that led to the bathroom between this room and the next one down, but she knew better. The other room's door between would be locked as well, so the bathroom was a dead end. The brat child wouldn't be in there.

That left only two places in the room for the little one to hide... under the bed, or in the chest. She crept up to the edge of the bed, and with a quick move, dropped to her hands and knees, pulling up the edge of the dust ruffle.

"AH HA!" She yelled triumphantly.

The little girl scrambled out and stood on the opposite side of the bed with a wicked grin, just as the older girl stood up, a determined look on her face. The chase was clearly at an impasse, both girls eyeing each other speculatively. The little girl licked her lips quickly, heart racing, prepared to run around the bed if the older girl tried to climb over it, or climb over it, if the older one tried to run around.

The older girl mentally calculated the odds of which way would be faster, not taking for granted the little girl's size, or apparent speed and dexterity. Without giving away her plan, she moved and ran around the bed partway; just long enough for the little one to climb onto the bed in a single-minded bid for freedom. As soon as she heard the bed creak, she switched directions, and tackled the little girl as she landed on the floor.

"Oooph! Ged offa meh!" the little girl cried, her mouth partly filled with her long black curls. The older girl righted herself, but kept a tight hold on the little heathen's arms.

"Now, see here," She stated as clearly and concisely as she could, triumphant at winning but frustrated to have had to chase the girl down in the first place. "You will come with me and get dressed properly. One cannot be running about the place in a nightshift! It may have been well and fine for you to act however you wished when you lived with just your father, but he is married to my mother now, and we have rules you will abide by. This is a fine estate and you will not sully our good name with your barbaric ways, Saffron! If you run this time, I will tell your father when he next returns just how you are acting out! Maybe he will sell you to some slavers and purchase himself a better behaved daughter."

Saffron gave her a dirty look, but as the older girl released her, she stood by…well, if not docilely, then at least Saffron stood still and didn't run away again. Nodding, pleased at the small victory, the older girl turned and chin held high, she walked out of the room trying her best to "glide" out as her mother had been teaching her.

As she walked down the halls, hearing the little girl behind her, she began to relax. Just as they neared Saffron's bedchambers, the little one ran, shoving her out of the way, tearing into her room and slamming the door behind her. Isabella opened her mouth to yell at her, but quickly closed it. Her mother had also been teaching her to choose her battles wisely. This seemed like an appropriate time as any. Perhaps Saffron was a barbarian with barbaric ways, but.. she was still in her room, still apparently getting dressed with her new personal maid.

Thinking of the extremely strict, no smiling, no laughing, no non-sense maid made Isabella almost want to shudder. Then she thought of her new step-sister getting the ministrations, and she turned, walking down the hallway trying to "glide" once more... with a huge smile on her face.


End file.
